This invention relates to tools for fastening two sheets of material together without welding or riveting and, more particularly, to a tool in which the sheets of material are fastened together in a clinching operation.
Sheets of material are most commonly fastened together by the use of welding or by the use of rivets. However, each of these methods has disadvantages. Specifically, welding entails high power requirements and large capital investment and cannot be used to fasten certain dissimilar materials, and riveting also requires high capital investment and produces a rather bulky joint that is unacceptable in many applications. In an effort to overcome the disadvantages of welding and riveting, clinching tools have been developed in which the sheets of material are deformed in a clinching operation to securely join the sheets together without the use of rivets and without the use of welds. Whereas these clinching tools have proven to be generally satisfactory in terms of producing a satisfactory joint as between the sheets of material, the available clinching tools are relatively bulky and therefore difficult if not impossible to use in tight confines such, for example, as in applications where the two sheets of material are configured to define a narrow channel structure.